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Kevin Fiala, Kings power their way to rout of Ducks in final meeting of season – San Bernardino Sun

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Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper, right, blocks a shot by the Ducks’ Jackson LaCombe (2) during the first period on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at Crypto.com Arena. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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LOS ANGELES — Coming off a letdown, the Kings produced a beatdown, trampling the Ducks, 6-1, on Thursday night at Crypto.com Arena to take three of four Freeway Faceoffs this season.

They bounced back from a low-wattage loss to lowly Seattle thanks in part to double-digit power plays in the game. That meant that nearly a period was chewed up without even-strength hockey, and the Kings capitalized by cashing in three times against a Ducks penalty kill that had killed 12 consecutive penalties over two games and 24 of 28 overall entering Thursday’s throwdown.

The Kings re-established a four-point lead on Edmonton for second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs following the Oilers’ win on Wednesday, when captain Connor McDavid returned ahead of schedule to deliver three assists. The Kings gained no ground on division-leading Vegas, which still leads them by six points after beating Seattle on Thursday. The Kings and Edmonton have four games left and Vegas has three.

Kevin Fiala scored two power-play goals. Anže Kopitar and Quinton Byfield had a goal and an assist apiece. Adrian Kempe and Andrei Kuzmenko each contributed three assists and Mikey Anderson chipped in a pair. Alex Laferriere and Jordan Spence also scored. Darcy Kuemper allowed two goals or fewer for the 15th consecutive game and made 24 saves.

Drew Doughty and Joel Edmundson both missed their second straight games due to injury, though Kempe was back in the mix following the birth of he and wife Sian’s first child, a daughter named Stellan, which means “peaceful one” in Swedish.

Cutter Gauthier reached the 20-goal mark for the season, with 18 of those goals coming at even strength. Lukáš Dostál had one of his worst nights of the season statistically, stopping 23 of 29 shots for his fourth-worst save percentage of the season.

In the third period, the Kings scored for a third time on the power play, converting on half their opportunities to that point against a Ducks PK that had killed 24 of 28 penalties entering the game.

Sixty-eight seconds into the final frame came Fiala’s second goal of the evening and 32nd of the season. Like his first goal, it was a one-timer from the right circle, this one set up by Kuzmenko’s third assist of the evening.

They scored again with 9:13 showing on the game clock, when Phil Danault’s low-to-high pass for Spence set up a seeing-eye one-timer from the blue line that found the twine through four bodies for Spence’s fourth goal of the campaign.

In the second period, Gauthier continued his torrid stretch but then the Kings seized control, scoring a second power-play goal and adding two more at even strength.

As the Kings did in the opening period, the Ducks scored an early goal (1:46), with Gauthier cashing in for the fifth time in three games. It was a rerun of a goal in the Edmonton game, with Leo Carlsson picking off a clearing attempt and then promptly getting a pass wide of the defender and onto Gauthier’s stick for a one-timer.

But the Kings re-took the lead and then stretched it to three goals.

Just 31 seconds after the Ducks equalized, Kopitar secured 20-goal campaign No. 14 with a deft deflection from the high slot that bounced off the ice and past Dostál. Only six European-born players have more seasons with 20 or more goals, and among those only Evgeni Malkin and Alex Ovechkin remain active.

At the 5:30 mark, the Kings struck with the extra man, moving the puck quickly to Fiala in the right circle for a knuckling one-timer that beat a visibly frustrated Dostál.

At 16:34, they hammered a nail in the Ducks’ coffin off a sticktoitive effort by Laferriere for his 17th goal of his sophomore effort. He beat Pavel Mintyukov to an airborne puck near the Ducks’ net, knocking it down and leaving it to roll on its side and wobble along the ice. Laferrere initially fanned on his forehand but swept the puck through Dostál’s five hole. The Ducks alleged Laferriere played the puck with a high stick, but lost the challenge.

The first period was marred by penalties, five in all. Fittingly, the only goal was a power-play marker from the Kings, though they were lapped 8-4 in shots on goal by the Ducks through 20 minutes.

A mere 84 seconds into the match, all five forwards who were out on the Kings’ power-play touched the puck. Andrei Kuzmenko baited Jacob Trouba, who played for the first time since April 3, opening up space in the low slot for Byfield, whose redirection goal got the scoring going.

The Ducks are wrapping up their seventh consecutive non-playoff season – the longest drought in the history of either Southern California franchise.

More to come on this story.



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